Thirty years ago on a fateful snowy night in March of 1984, a Mayflower moving van was photographed pulling away from the Baltimore Colts training facility in Owings Mills. The van was transporting the Colts NFL franchise to Indianapolis and leaving Baltimore without a professional football team.

Famed photographer Neil Leifer – whose iconic photography is currently on exhibit at the Sports Legend Museum – will tell you without hesitation, which of his many photographs is his favorite picture taken during his illustrious career. And it’s not one you might expect.

The Baltimore Sun newspaper has a rich history of photojournalism. Since publishing its first photograph on September 30, 1901 The Sun has employed a long line of award winning photographers. To pay tribute to these photographers, The Darkroom will periodically take a look back at the body of work by some of these photographers whose love of their craft helped document the lives of people from the backstreets of Baltimore to the four corners of the globe.

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the night the Colts packed up and moved to Indianapolis, a dark chapter in Baltimore sports history. Speculation about what would happen to the Baltimore Colts had been mounting for weeks as behind closed doors owner Robert Irsay was finalizing plans to relocate the team.More